We shall approach this topic by considering the

followings:
✓ Definitions of the two terms - maintenance
- maintainability
✓ Basic differences between the two terms
✓ Explanation of certain terms and
terminologies relating to maintainability.
✓ Some numerical examples

1
To differentiate between maintenance and
maintainability, we shall attempt to explain
the two terms separately
We shall first consider the definition of
maintenance:

2
Maintenance is a combination of any actions
carried out to retain an item in or restore it
to normal operational standard.
IEEE TASK FORCE DEFINITION
Maintenance is an “activity of restoration
wherein an unfailed device has , from time to
time its deterioration arrested, reduced or
eliminated”.

3
The principal objectives of maintenance are as
stated below:
➢ To extend the useful life span of an item.

➢ To increase availability of installed equipment

➢ To ensure operational readiness of all

equipment required particularly for
emergency purpose

4
➢ To ensure the safety of people (personnel)
using such equipment.
➢ To avoid exhorbitant expenses on the repair
of equipment which might occur if the same
equipment was not maintained and then
allow to fail.

5
In a layman’s language, maintainability is
defined as the ease and speed with which a
failed item can be repaired and brought back
into service. However a more precise
definition is stated as follows:

6
Maintainability is the probability that a unit or
system will be restored to operational
efficiency at a given period of time when the
maintenance action is performed in
accordance with prescribed procedures.

7
▪ From the definition, it is clear that
maintainability can be quantified and can
assume a dimensionless numerical figure that
lies between 0 and 1, except if expressed in
percentage form.
▪ Maintainability figure should be kept as high
as possible if optimum use is to be derived
from a system.
▪ To achieve high maintainability, certain
factors must be considered.

8
❖ System location
❖ The efficiency and skill of the maintenance
crew and
❖ Availability of spare parts.
❖ It is also possible to increase maintainability
if we decide to put two skilful and efficient
men on a repair job instead of one. The job
will be completed within a given time if done
technically as expected.

9
The aim of maintainability engineer is to
design and develop systems / equipment
which can be maintained in the least time, at
the least cost and with a minimum
expenditure of supporting resources without
adversely affecting the equipment
performance or safety characteristics.

10
In order to quantify our study of
maintainability, we should introduce some
terms / terminologies, which we shall attempt
to define:

The prescribed
Maintenance
operation to action
repair a failed item

11
Defined as the mean of the time required to
perform maintenance actions
This could be developed at the design stage of
a system by way of analyzing the cogent
maintenance tasks which will be required to
correct a fault.

12
 Fault localization

Fault isolation

Fault correction
(Removal, Replacement,
Reassembly and alignment or adjustment
and finally checkout)

13
 The mean time anticipated for the operations
listed earlier is obtained and the MTTR is
evaluated by using the relationships

MTTR 
n  t
1 1 m1
.......... .......... .......... .... 8.0
n  1 1

Where n1  quantity of similar parts

1  parts failure rate
t m1  predicted ma int enance operation time.
14
• This is the number of maintenance actions
that can be carried out on a particular item
per hour or average number of items
(equipment) which can be restored to normal
working condition per hour, assuming that
there is no waiting between repair jobs.
• Maintenance action rate(µ) is the reciprocal of
the MTTR,
i.e.

1
  .......... ......... 8.1
MTTR
15
This is defined as the permissible repair time.
This leads us to maintainability equation

16
The probability of completing one or more
maintenance actions is expressed through
the maintainability equation as

  tm   tm 
M  1 e  1  exp  .......... ...... 8.2
 MTTR 

17
The average time to repair any fault in a
given system is half an hour. Determine
maintainability of the system for a time
of 2 12 hours.

18
From equation 8.2,

 2 .5
M  1 e 0. 5

3
 1  ( 6.737 x 10 )
 0.993

19
➢ It is therefore clear that the prediction of
maintainability involves establishing a value
for the MTTR of a system.
➢ A designer can only aim at a low value of
MTTR by considering such factor as
accessibility of components, and built-in fault
display units since accurate assessment of
MTTR is a difficult task.

20
This is defined as the ratio of the operating
time (t op) to the sum of the maintenance time
(t m), idle time (tid) (which may occur between
completion of maintenance as a result of
administrative reasons) and the operating
time.
Mathematically, it can be expressed as

t op
U  .......... ..... 8.3
t m  t id  t op
21
This is defined as the probability that an
item will perform its required function at
a stated instant of time or over a stated
period of time.
Considering equation 8.3, if the idle time is
equal to zero (ie tid = 0) and the mtce
time becomes as small as possible, then
utilisation factor will approach its
maximum value, and can be called
availability of a unit or system.
Mathematically this can be expressed as
t op
A  U MAX  .......... .......... .8.4
t op  t m min 

22
From our previous knowledge of MTBF and MTTF,
the following assumptions are true.
i. t  MTBF (mean time between failure)
op
(mean time to repair)
t m min   MTTR
ii.

Using these assumption in equation 8.3 above,

we have
MTBF
A  .......... .......... ... 8.5
MTBF  MTTR

23
An electrical generating set designed for
continuous operation fails twice in a period
of 123 days. The total time for repairs
during the period is 3 days. Determine the
following parameters:
1) MTBF (days)
2) MTTR (days)
3) Availability

24
1) Total operating time = 123- 3 = 120 days
total number of failures = 2
MTBF = 120/2 = 60 days
2)
total time for repair
MTTR 
total number of failures
3 1
 days or 1 day
3) 2 2
MTBF
Availability 
MTBF  MTTR
60
 X 100
60  3
2

 97.6 %

25
Unavailability of an equipment or system due to
breakdown is the complement of availability.
or 
i.e. A  1 A

 MTTR
Unavailability, A 
MTBF  MTTR
This is obtained by multiplying both sides of
equation 8.5 by -1 and adding 1 to both sides
of the result.

26
This is the probability that a unit or system will
be restored to operational efficiency within a
given ‘active repair time’ if specified mtce is
performed on it.
✓ Note: Active repair time is the time during
which technicians are actually working on
repairs, or doing some adjustments etc.

27
Maintenance action may consume time due to
the following activities which are associated
with it.
a) Reporting failure to the appropriate staff.
b) The maintenance team or a maintenance
technician collects the repair tools and
possibly some spares he guesses may be
needed.

28
c) Trying to verify the precise way in which
the item fails to function and consequently
deciding to disassemble some parts prior to
the proper commencement of fault
diagnosis.
d) Locating the actual fault.
e) Sending for additional spares, replacement
etc, if the need arises.
f) Carrying out the actual repairs or replacing
a faulty unit with a good one and making
any adjustments, if necessary.
g) Testing the item after repairs to ensure
satisfactory performance.

29
i. It is clear that the ‘maintenance action
time’ is the sum total of the times spent
on all the activities listed (a-g) earlier.
ii. Active repair time: this is the time during
which actual repair work, adjustments etc
are carried out by the maintenance
technicians. This period is covered by
activities (c)-(g) with the exception of (e)
iii. Logistics time: this is part of the total
repair time and represents the time taken
to obtain all the repair tools, materials and
spares etc and the movement of repair
crew to the failed item. It is covered by
activities (b) and (c).

30
iv. Administrative time
This is the time which is not specifically
allocated to either active repair or logistics.
This includes the time lost due to the non-
availability of maintenance staff, partly as a
result of meal breaks (ie tea break or lunch
time) or because the maintenance technician
needed for the repair job is yet to complete
a previous job etc. This time may be covered
by the activities (a) and (e).

31
Steady-state availability is the proportion of
time that a system is available for use when
the overall period is of considerable duration.
Since availability of a repairable system is a
function of its failure rate,  , and of its repair
rate, µ, equation 8.5 can be put in another
form to read

MTBF
Ass 
MTBF  MTTR

32
 MTBF
ASS 
MTBF  MTTR
1

 1
  1



 ASS  .......... .......... ...8.7

On the other hand, unavailability can be exp ressed as :


Steady  state unavailability, ASS  1  ASS

 
 ASS  .......... .......... ......... 8.8
 

33
Availabilities of sub-units can be combined in
the same way as reliabilities. The availability
of a system, As consisting of n sub-units in
series with availabilities A1, A2, …,An
respectively is given by
As = A1A2….An ………8.9
Similarly, for parallel connection, the
availability Ap = 1-[(1-A1)(1-A2)…(1-An)]
………… 8.10

34